Chuck Dibilio is still in Princeton's thoughts

The former Nazareth standout watched Princeton's game at Lehigh while thinking about a possible return.

September 17, 2012|Keith Groller

When he was a little kid, Chuck Dibilio lived near Lehigh's Goodman Stadium.

At halftime of Lehigh games, Dibilio, his brother, and his father, Chuck Sr., would often go over to the stadium and watch the second half for free from the hill behind the south end zone.

So, when Dibilio went back at Goodman Stadium on Saturday the place was familiar, but the feeling was not.

That's because Dibilio was there to watch his Princeton teammates play Lehigh in the Tigers' first game since Dibilio suffered a stroke last Jan. 19.

"It wasn't as tough sitting in the stands as I thought it was going to be," Dibilio said after the game. "I was feeling a lot of different emotions, but once the game got going, I got into the game and forgot about not being able to play."

Princeton could have used Dibilio against Lehigh, the opponent he made his collegiate debut against last September.

Dibilio's 86 yards rushing yards and 26-yard touchdown reception foreshadowed a huge freshman season for the former Nazareth Blue Eagle. He became the first Princeton player to earn Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors since 1983, finishing with 1,068 yards rushing.

He figured to play a big role in the revitalization of the Tigers program until he was stricken during a study group session.

News of Dibilio's stroke shocked a Lehigh Valley sports community that had come to admire the multi-sport star at Nazareth.

Typical of Dibilio, he worked extremely hard in therapy and was back out and about within weeks.

How's he doing now?

"Physically, I'm back to normal, working out, and I am doing competitive sports again, like adult basketball," he said. "Mentally, I am about 99 percent there. I still have some small details I have to take care of, but for the most part, I feel fine."

However, it was decided that it was better for Dibilio to take the football season off to make sure he was 100 percent in all areas.

He's taking a course at Moravian while staying involved with football as a volunteer assistant at Nazareth.

"It's good to be around kids who love the game," Dibilio said. "Being back at Nazareth has been a good experience."

And, it has to be good for the Nazareth kids to have one of the hardest-workers in program history around to show the kids the ropes.

Both the Nazareth and Princeton communities rallied around Chuck and the Dibilio family last winter.

"What everybody here knows about Chuck is that he's an outstanding football player, but he's an even better person," said Princeton assistant Ryan Roeder, a Bethlehem native and the brother of Freedom football coach Ryan Roeder.

"In his first week in the hospital we actually had to tell the kids to stop visiting because they were bombarding him and Chuck needed his rest. Princeton kids are great kids and Chuck is well-liked. From a football perspective, we'd love to have him back playing, but from a human-life perspective, we're just glad he's back to being Chuck. If I know him, he was hurting today not being able to play."

Princeton head coach Bob Surace said: "You grow close to players in this profession and we all grew close to Chuck because of what he did and how much he matured last year. You never want to see a guy go through a life-threatening situation like he did. He was the healthiest guy on the team and it was tough to see him in the hospital. But we're all happy to see him doing so well."

The scary part for Dibilio is that the cause of the stroke has never been revealed despite extensive testing.

As of now, Dibilio intends to return to a full class load at Princeton in the spring, and, assuming he receives all medical clearances, he'll return to the football team next season.

"I'm going to talk it over with my parents, and really try to make it an informed decision," he said. "I need to make sure everything's perfect. But I am itching to go back."

And that's understandable considering this is the first season in more than a decade that he's not playing somewhere, going to back his days in the Saucon Valley youth program.

But as much as he loves football, Dibilio realizes life is even more precious.

"I have come to realize that there are parts of life you can't control," Dibilio said. "What I have right now is certainly not preferred, but I am making the best of it."